The orginal City Hall was built by A. J. Warner between 1874 and 1875, "Here the elder Warner used Lockport Greystone for the design, employing contrasting cut stone in a manner similar to that of the Rochester Free Academy, although with less adherence to the Ruskinesque Gothic model. There seems to be less homage here to historical influence and more self-reliance. The City Hall is a linear and lively building of the 1870's, not yet representing the rotund, neo-Romanesque stone style of Richardson, identified more with the next decade. Like the Gothic academy, the City Hall is characterized by angularity and pronounced verticality, but there is a prevailing restraint and a contentment with the simple repitition of similar elements. This seems fresh today as does its expresssion of natural materials. ...
Five and a half story City Hall has a smooth redstone first floor and above which the upper stories are of Lockport greystone. The distinctive window heads shaped in arches or trefoils on each floor are of Medina sandstone. The building is twelve bays wide on the south (Broad Street) facade which originally faced on the Erie Canal. The main entrance is now on the Broad Street facade, and there is another entrance on South Fitzhugh Street. The west (South Fitzhugh Street) facade is seven bays wide with a six story bell tower at the northwest corner. The tower's roof is in the shape of a pyramid flattened at the top with a small platform surround by iron cresting. The tower and main portion of the building has a bracketted cornice, and there are eight inside end chimneys, four on the Broad Street facade and two at either end.
Black and white "checkerboard" marble floors are still found in the hallways throughout the building as well as the marble and iron balustrade of the main stairway. The City Council chamber is on the third floor, and the former fourth floor auditorium has been subdivided with the insertion of steel girders to form a forth and fifth floor suitable for office space.
Source:
The plaque on the Broad and Fitzhugh corner of the building (inserted photo above) reads:
Broad Street is built over the way of
THE ERIE CANAL
which was completed in 1825
This section was last used in the season 1919
The canal was an artery carrying life to many communities.
The steady flow of commerce from the Great Lakes
to the Atlantic strengthened the Union.
Its persistent impulse enlarged the village of Rochester
into a city and made New York the Empire State.
Nearby was the landing place of the packet boats
used in transit by many of our
NEW ENGLAND PIONEERS
to whom this tablet is dedicated
erected by
The State of New York
The Colony of New England Woman of Rochester
The Rochester Bicentenial Society
1929